firedad415 Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Took my 99 Bird with almost 60K miles to the shop the other day with new Stator and R/R in hand (parts bought a fews ago in anticipation of failure and found a fried R/R connector). My complaint... the battery needs to be charged every so many weeks in order to continue starting, like maybe the battery isn't charging while riding or the system isn't charging like it should anyway. Past electrical fixes; the loom solder fix & the R/R connector fix. Never used a tender since I bought the bike new, I usually try and ride year round. Although, this winter didn't host too many miles for me. I have tried to start the bike every few weeks and run it til warm, then shut it back off, however, this problem has been going on since late spring of last year. Only electric farkles are a set of 55watt fog type lights wired directly to the battery. They do a great job lighting up that dark spot up to 25 feet just in front of the bike. Man, the broadcast of that stock headlight beam sucks! (he didn't see them at first to test voltage while they were on, but will Monday) Info so far......The mechanic calls me this past Friday and states he tested the electrical system including stator and R/R (both original equipment) are fine! He said he hasn't load tested the battery yet, but would this Monday. He did say the voltage produced was fine and only dropped significantly (to 10.4) when the high beam was on?!?!? It is a standard Wal-Mart cheapo 55/60 bulb (had to replace it while on a ride several years back). His question to me was if the bulb was a 55/100 watt, and if so, that may explain the voltage drop, but I am pretty sure it is a 55/60. He will double check. Also, the battery is just about a year old. I believe the problem may have started just prior to the new battery. I had to purchase a battery while on a trip to WV last year due to not being able to charge the old one and it died twice on that trip. Hopefully he tells me he load tested the battery and it has a bad cell or something. Or maybe this is coincidence and I seemed to have purchased a dud battery last year, but at this point, I just want my Bird to be it's dependable old self...this is our last year together! I will be replacing it with a Tenere' or Triumph Explorer 1200 over the winter! Anything I might want to add in talking to him Monday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Tell him to check the connector coming off the start relay. The R/R feeds power back to the battery through that connector . I have seen corrosion cause that connector to burn and not charge the battery. The voltage should never drop to 10.4 when the bike is running. Anytime the voltage drops below 12.5 volts you are not charging the battery. You really don't want to see the running voltage to drop below 13-13.5 optimal voltage is around 14.2-14.5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman_40 Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Your headlight bulbs shouldn't be 55/60W or 55\100W. H7 Bulbs don't have a low/high beam one bulb is a low beam the second is a high beam. I've got a 100W high beam and never had a issue with not enough power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redxxrdr Posted April 22, 2012 Share Posted April 22, 2012 Don't be surprised if he tells you that you have a bad battery. IF..... he was measuring those voltages at the battery, then the battery is suspect. You should see 12-12.5 volts at the battery even with the lights on and engine off. ( assuming a good battery with a good charge). A weak battery will show a voltage drop under load. However, the charging system should have been able to supply 15 vdc at 5000 rpm. If the stator output is good, but the voltage drops at the battery, you are loosing the power in the R/R or the connectors. Or a couple of shorted cells in the battery. But again, the battery should show low voltage with any load if it is bad. New digital voltmeters have high impedance inputs. ( They put very little load on the circuit you are measuring). It is very easy to assume that you have a good circuit if you don't put some load on it. I'm sure the shop will get it fixed, but I do suggest getting a Digital Volt Meter to have around the house. They have gotten cheap, and are easy to use. You will be surprised how often you can use one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firedad415 Posted April 23, 2012 Author Share Posted April 23, 2012 Well... mechanic called today. Said the stator was bad, but test didn't show it was bad until it warmed up. He also said there was a drop in voltage when the cooling fan came on. In addition, he said I couldn't run the aux lights while the high beam was on...the voltage dropped then also. He said the battery passed a load test. hmmmm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Krypt Keeper Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Why would the stator not work when warmed up but work when cold? Expansion of metal when heated causing it to loose connection maybe? Curious as electrical is a weakness of mine and enjoy learning more about it. I recently had battery issues at the start of a trip. Battery always on trickle charger. Unplugged night before ride. Bike fired up just fine, and rode fine for 11 or so miles. Walked into a store for 2 minutes. Back out and battery was weak as tap water and got 1/2 a crank over on the engine. Got jumped and rode to nearest parts store 1 mile away. Using meter and jump box and looking at this site to trouble shoot the system everything checked out. Pulled battery and had it load tested and was shown to be OK also. back into bike and 1/2 a crank and done. System was charging and working great when jumped and running. Ended up with a $95 new battery and fired to life. Don't know why it showed OK on load test and not have the juice to spin over the bike. I plan to install a digital voltage readout on my XX soon to help monitor whats going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Knievel Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 Took my 99 Bird with almost 60K miles to the shop the other day with new Stator and R/R in hand (parts bought a fews ago in anticipation of failure and found a fried R/R connector). My complaint... the battery needs to be charged every so many weeks in order to continue starting, like maybe the battery isn't charging while riding or the system isn't charging like it should anyway. Past electrical fixes; the loom solder fix & the R/R connector fix. Never used a tender since I bought the bike new, I usually try and ride year round. Although, this winter didn't host too many miles for me. I have tried to start the bike every few weeks and run it til warm, then shut it back off, however, this problem has been going on since late spring of last year. Only electric farkles are a set of 55watt fog type lights wired directly to the battery. They do a great job lighting up that dark spot up to 25 feet just in front of the bike. Man, the broadcast of that stock headlight beam sucks! (he didn't see them at first to test voltage while they were on, but will Monday) Info so far......The mechanic calls me this past Friday and states he tested the electrical system including stator and R/R (both original equipment) are fine! He said he hasn't load tested the battery yet, but would this Monday. He did say the voltage produced was fine and only dropped significantly (to 10.4) when the high beam was on?!?!? It is a standard Wal-Mart cheapo 55/60 bulb (had to replace it while on a ride several years back). His question to me was if the bulb was a 55/100 watt, and if so, that may explain the voltage drop, but I am pretty sure it is a 55/60. He will double check. Also, the battery is just about a year old. I believe the problem may have started just prior to the new battery. I had to purchase a battery while on a trip to WV last year due to not being able to charge the old one and it died twice on that trip. Hopefully he tells me he load tested the battery and it has a bad cell or something. Or maybe this is coincidence and I seemed to have purchased a dud battery last year, but at this point, I just want my Bird to be it's dependable old self...this is our last year together! I will be replacing it with a Tenere' or Triumph Explorer 1200 over the winter! Anything I might want to add in talking to him Monday? Scot...is that you? I wonder how much $$$ you have into diagnosing the bike when it might have been better to just replace the parts and call it done. Being paranoid, I've put a voltmeter on my bike years ago so I'd know in real-time if there were charging issues. Any bike I own from this point forward will have one on it. If you lose voltage when your fan comes on, you have something grounding out. Unfortunately, it could be most anything with an exposed wire. Same thing with your high beam. I'm running HID kits. No drop in voltage when both are on (although the light might blink if the ballast hasn't had time to build up a charge). Not enough to short the circuit, but it's bleeding off power by energizing a huge chunk of metal. Since you know it happens with the fan and high beam, you need to check the wires and see if anything is damaged. Do you get a lot of salt air from living close to the ocean? I'm not sure how much corrosion on electrical contacts might be part of the problem. FWIW, if your motor isn't running for about 20-30 minutes to "top off" the battery, it's not doing squat to just start her up once in a while...except maybe burn off any moisture building up in the engine/exhaust system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhawkxx Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 I recently had battery issues at the start of a trip. Battery always on trickle charger. Unplugged night before ride. Bike fired up just fine, and rode fine for 11 or so miles. Walked into a store for 2 minutes. Back out and battery was weak as tap water and got 1/2 a crank over on the engine. Got jumped and rode to nearest parts store 1 mile away. Using meter and jump box and looking at this site to trouble shoot the system everything checked out. Pulled battery and had it load tested and was shown to be OK also. back into bike and 1/2 a crank and done. System was charging and working great when jumped and running. Ended up with a $95 new battery and fired to life. I have had this more than once with car batteries. Crank fine when cold, wouldn't crank when hot, let cool off and it would crank again. When in doubt, throw it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TuffguyF4i Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I suggest putting a new battery in and then continuing with tests. Worst case, you can take it back to walmart. Always start simple and work your way up. If the stator was bad, your battery would be dead in a short period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HANKSXXX Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I suggest putting a new battery in and then continuing with tests. Worst case, you can take it back to walmart. Always start simple and work your way up. If the stator was bad, your battery would be dead in a short period of time. Not necessarily... 1 leg of Stefan's stator crapped out in WV and he rode the bike home with only 2 legs working, as long as he kept the RPM's above 4000. I'm pretty sure max charge rate with 2 legs was 12.6 volts so it was very edgy. Ruhi followed him to be sure he made it and Pete followed me...I had a wire to the red connector at the starter relay melt and had to run a jumper wire which got me home too. There are times when the components are good but the connectors are bad and its best to check everything thoroughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowrideCX Posted April 24, 2012 Share Posted April 24, 2012 I suggest putting a new battery in and then continuing with tests. Worst case, you can take it back to walmart. Always start simple and work your way up. If the stator was bad, your battery would be dead in a short period of time. Not necessarily... 1 leg of Stefan's stator crapped out in WV and he rode the bike home with only 2 legs working, as long as he kept the RPM's above 4000. I'm pretty sure max charge rate with 2 legs was 12.6 volts so it was very edgy. Ruhi followed him to be sure he made it and Pete followed me...I had a wire to the red connector at the starter relay melt and had to run a jumper wire which got me home too. There are times when the components are good but the connectors are bad and its best to check everything thoroughly. y I am going to guess there is corrosion on the connectors that is causing the voltage drop when under heavy loads. A short would mee than likely blow a fuse. When my stator went bad as Hank said all I did was pulled the head light fuse and anything not needed to run and made it home. 350 miles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firedad415 Posted April 27, 2012 Author Share Posted April 27, 2012 Picked up the bike this week and had a chat with my mechanic. Stator was bad... he handed it to me and it looked like he just took it off my grill after cooking for a few hours...all black and toasty. He said he wasn't even sure why it was working! But said, when it got hot, expansion was taking place and wires were seperating, that was likely the culprit for part of my charging dilemma. Another issue I had was that the aux driving lights I have had on there for the last however many years were shorting out and causing a significant voltage drop (10.2) when turned on. Maybe time for a new set or a better headlight bulb. And finally, he said that he thinks my fan may be heading in the direction of a dirt nap. He said it is pulling slightly more than it should. The bike voltage drops to about 12.7-13 (I think) when it kicks in. Otherwise, the bike is charging fine (about 13.9-14.4) when running. At my request, due to suggestions here, he did take a look at the relay and other connectors and cleaned as necessary. I also think it is about time for a voltage/amperage meter to sit somewhere on the dash to keep an eye on things while under way since the ole Bird is getting some grey in her feathers! Thanks for all the help folks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zero Knievel Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 I also think it is about time for a voltage/amperage meter to sit somewhere on the dash to keep an eye on things while under way since the ole Bird is getting some grey in her feathers! Grey feathers....at 60K? Talk to me when you have over 80K. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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